Will Evan's Win and Russia's Fury Hurt the Other Events?

[Alatariel]

Ha, ha.
If bitterness is your thing why not go suck a lemon and then look at yourself in the mirror. Your expression would be the same as your posts here.

BTW, congrats to Plushy for winning another Olympic medal. He is surely the skater of the decade and a skater for the ages.
I hope he will consider continuing and if he remains healthy I am sure he will win more titles.

Actually I am having a great time. The more this sort of bs happens the more fun I have. I think we deserve every single thing similar to this one that happens, I hope there will be more and soon too. The worse the better. People who eat ... should be made to eat as much of it as possible, at the greatest rate possible. Then maybe one day they might wake up and wonder why they are eating it.

And patronising doesn't suit you at all. But it does seem to be a common trait among many Americans so I guess you just can't help it.

[MissIzzy]

Looking at the compulsory scores, we can give the judges credit: if they wanted to push D&S firmly up above the field, they could have done so. I know many think V&M should have won the CD last night, but remember D&S are good CD technicians, and I, for one, am willing to believe they won fair and square-if they are judged fairly through the rest of the competition. Whether that will happen remains to be seen.

[nghtvsn]

Actually I am having a great time. The more this sort of bs happens the more fun I have. I think we deserve every single thing similar to this one that happens, I hope there will be more and soon too. The worse the better. People who eat ... should be made to eat as much of it as possible, at the greatest rate possible. Then maybe one day they might wake up and wonder why they are eating it.

And patronising doesn't suit you at all. But it does seem to be a common trait among many Americans so I guess you just can't help it.

Please stop embarassing yourself. Maybe you can't see it but everyone else reading your comments is just *sighing* everytime you type a retort.

Give it up and move on. It's really sad...

[Alatariel]

Please stop embarassing yourself. Maybe you can't see it but everyone else reading your comments is just *sighing* everytime you type a retort.

Give it up and move on. It's really sad...

I intend to continue posting what I think until someone throws me out of the forum or until I decide it is time to stop.

You though have a very easy option - my profile, ignore list and voila! No need to sigh every time you read something by me and waste your precious time. See, I'm nice. I'm even telling you how to not expose your enlightened self to my embarrassing posts.

[janetfan]

The Russians seem to think they're entitled to golds. Remember 2002?

And as for "King Evan," say what you want, but he is a VERY gracious winner.

Yes, skating has a great role model in Evan and his sensational victory will inspire skaters all over the world to practice and train harder.

I said if Plushy won the OGM I would dye my hair blonde and wear it mullet style for one week.
So it is easy to see I am not just proud of King Evan but also greatly relieved that I won't be seen in such a silly, outdated haircut.

But.......the world is not a perfect place. I also told the skating Gods that if Evan won I would go to a tanning salon and wear my dark hair slicked back for a week.

Thank God for hats and sun glasses

[fairly4]

might -why check out jspin and spiral evgeny came in 6th with a 18.94 --stephane was 1st 22.60, patrick 2nd 22.10 evan 3rd 21.10, daisuke 4th 19.90, jermey 5th 19.50; evgeny 6th 18.94, noburna 7th 18.30
especiall with email by joe iman to look out for evgeny transititions with canada judges and italy judges; and also noticing spins were lacking --evgeny won jumps with a 63.77 and evan 2nd 63.47-johnny 3rd with a61.
it depends, how close knit figure skating community is , close ranks and how certain judges and callers are affliltated with each other through skating clubs, former olympic medalist skaters etc. politics,

[krenseby]

Julius, great post. It's very true that if you consider Plushenko's performance as subpar for him, then had he had a better day, his LP could have been absolutely amazing.

[gfskater]

It is really Evgeni's coach’s fault for not building a program that he could win with. He had a handicap right from the start.

People can say Evan won because he "worked the system" but that is what it takes. Evgeni's coaches know the system. It has been in place for what 7 years?

The system gives you more points for doing jumps in the second half of the program because it is harder to do them there. I think that makes sense. If working the system means doing a 8 jumps after the halfway mark, go for it. The system allows you to do a three jump combo and Evan did one. Good for Frank Carol and Lori Nichol for setting Evan up to win. Good for Evan for practicing his program back to back for a year so he could do it under pressure.

This is what sports are about. Start with some talent and a good plan, practice it over and over and over until it becomes habit, and finally perform it well with millions of eyes on you. That was great to see. Evan looked confident, smooth, and his execution had great flow. He had awesome extension on the landings, during his footwork his turns and edgework was great and his kicks were higher than his shoulder. His 6'2" lines were elegant and controlled.

Evan was a very kind and respectful when asked what he thought of Evgeni and his coach's comments. He spoke highly of Evgeni. Evan is a true athlete and a good sportsman.

By the way I am not an Evan worshiper, I was routing for Takahashi during the event. Shame he fell apart in the long he is a grat skater.

[Tinymavy15]

King Evan scored the most points. He did his best under tremendous pressure. That is something Americans identify strongly with.
He may not be memorable to you and many others but we are proud of his stunning accomplishment.

We are even prouder than you will ever understand because we know there are more talented skaters out there.
But when I want beauty on the ice I watch the women. Most Americans feel the same way. We don't want a fancy pants champion and are perfectly fine with a blue collar champion. We know he worked and trained as hard as possible and was able to perform his best when it counted most.

You are free as are the others to prefer other skaters. Jeremy is actually my favorite along with Dai and Lambiel.
But Evan has something the others all wanted very badly. It is so obvious that Evan wanted it more than the others and I find it quite miraculous that he won it fair and square.

Exactly.

[gfskater]

Oh yes and by the way, ^^^^, stop trying to make Plushenko into some sort of monster. Dear lord, you are all insane. Enemies - he means opponents - his English sucks which is painfully obvious. Yes, yes, the big ebil Russian ... we know, we know....

OK, maybe I'll give him the benefit of the doubt there. When he said "My enemies, I have many enemies" he meant "My competitors, I have many competitors"

I really believe that if you have a problem with the scoring you should take it up properly with the judge’s panel and not make “This is outrageous” comments to the press.

[Alatariel]

OK, maybe I'll give him the benefit of the doubt there. When he said "My enemies, I have many enemies" he meant "My competitors, I have many competitors".

Please, trust me on this one, I honestly mean it as I deal with languages and translations and people speaking not their own language every single day and there are many issues of this kind.

Like in Italian - instead of saying it doesn't function, some Slavic language speakers always say - non lavora instead of non funziona - it's the work/function bit but they have one word for something and it is difficult. I've heard Plushenko speak English many times and his vocabulary is not extensive at all, he uses a certain set number of words with not too good grammar which is usually indicative of learning because you have to and in a half-hazard manner. He gets his point across usually but I've seen him run out of words too.

Of course there is a small chance, to be fair, he meant enemies but again different languages have different words that often convey nuances and when you don't speak the foreign language well the ability to 'hit' the right word, as you would in your own, is practically non-existent.

[Raatkirani]

The Russians seem to think they're entitled to golds. Remember 2002?

Acutally, it was the Canadians that thought that they were entitled to gold. The unprecedented duplicate medal proves that. If Evan can win without a quad, then certainly the Russians can win with a very minor stumble in a exponentially difficult routine.

[MissIzzy]

Acutally, it was the Canadians that thought that they were entitled to gold. The unprecedented duplicate medal proves that. If Evan can win without a quad, then certainly the Russians can win with a very minor stumble in a exponentially difficult routine.

And then, apparently, they spat all over B&S's moment and ruined it for them.

Which, of course, only EVIL North Americans do.

Oh wait...

[gfskater]

Of course there is a small chance, to be fair, he meant enemies but again different languages have different words that often convey nuances and when you don't speak the foreign language well the ability to 'hit' the right word, as you would in your own, is practically non-existent.

I watched the segment again on DVR. Perhaps he meant "my detractors, I have many detractors". In other words, there are many people that are angry that I am coming out to compete after being away.
I do agree with him that any gold medalist should have the right to defend their title. I believe anyone who wins a gold medal should automatically qualify for the next event. I understand that he was probably talking about the people that were giving him the "How can you think you are entitled to come out of retirement"

I did however think the whole segment portrayed a “me against the world” attitude followed by "they are just afraid of me, the great one, and they should be." He may be right but I am not sure it was a good message. The real problem with that attitude is when you do not win. Now you have some splainin to do. You should not however blame the system or the judges. The system worked correctly. He had a poorly constructed program and suffered for it. Even if the system or judges were wrong, the best athletes accept defeat with a positive attitude and congratulate the winner.

[gfskater]

After the post skating comments by Evgeni and coach, Evan spoke highly of Evgeni as a great guy. Evan said that he may not of meant it the way it came out.

I wonder how much the media had to do with all of this. They may have taken 3 hours of interviews and pieced them together into a 60 second segment that would hype things up. No, they would never do that!

That is why athletes (and politicians) should remember to always be gracious toward their competitors. The media can twist and replay a single comment out of context over and over.

After some thought my respect for Evgeni has come back up. HE has always been one of my favorites and I lost a little respect for him this past week. I need to remember the media is the media, and have faith that Evgeni is a great guy as Evan said.